On a day headlined by veterans, here are a few Ole Miss youngsters who shined vs. Mercer
Sep. 3—OXFORD — While Saturday's 73-7 win over Mercer largely belonged to savvy veterans, No. 22 Ole Miss has plenty to be excited about in terms of its budding young talent.
Following a 75-yard touchdown on Mercer's first offensive play from scrimmage, the Rebels (1-0) outscored the Bears 66-0 the remainder of the game.
Ole Miss totaled 667 yards of offense and gave up just 235 yards. Senior wide receiver Tre Harris and junior quarterback Jaxson Dart were among the biggest stories of the day, with the former catching a program-record four touchdowns and the latter completing 18 of 23 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns. Sophomore All-American candidate Quinshon Judkins ran for 60 yards on 13 carries, scored two touchdowns on the ground and caught two passes.
A pair of freshman wide receivers — Ayden Williams and Cayden Lee — made a big impact for the Rebels offensively as well. Williams, a four-star recruit in the 2023 class who has dazzled all fall in practice, was targeted six times, finishing with two catches for 47 yards. His first-career reception came in the third quarter on a 43-yard bomb from senior Spencer Sanders.
Lee had seen more significant, meaningful reps in practice in recent weeks, and it showed Saturday: his first-career catch was a 34-yard touchdown from Sanders in the third.
Dart specifically pointed to an acrobatic reception Lee had during the Rebels' first fall scrimmage as a sort of turning point for the Georgia native.
"He had a really big play in our first scrimmage on a slot fade and caught it back shoulder and he was able to get a foot in. And I just remember seeing that and being like, 'Dang, this kid could really play, and he could play right now,'" Dart said. "So, it's fun to see young guys like that compete throughout camp and then just work their selves up through the depth chart, and then when it comes to it in the game, the lights didn't get too bright for him, and he played really well."
Ole Miss' leading tackler was freshman Suntarine Perkins, the five-star class of 2023 linebacker from Raleigh who was ranked as the top player in Mississippi and one of the best prospects nationally. Perkins didn't start the game but finished with nine tackles and a sack.
A couple additional underclassmen made had big days defensively for the Rebels as well — sophomore defensive tackle Zxavian Harris led the team with 2.5 tackles for loss and sophomore linebacker Tyler Banks had five tackles. Perkins, Harris and Banks were the team's three-leading tacklers.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said he wasn't particularly surprised with Perkins' strong play.
"That's how this guy has played in every practice he's been in, every scrimmage. So, it's what we expected him to be and, a lot of energy put into him recruiting for a reason," Kiffin said. "So, really good to see. We have not really had an impact defensive freshman necessarily like that. So, it's great to have."
Ole Miss plays No. 24 Tulane Saturday in New Orleans at 2:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
